In recent years, surface mount technology (SMT) connectors have gained popularity for interconnecting circuit boards because of their ease of electrical connection to elements on circuit boards, their high packaging densities of contacts and other advantages. A SMT connector is electrically connected to a circuit board by soldering a soldering section (that is, a tine section) of a contact thereon to a pad on the surface of the circuit board. Some SMT connectors have a bracket attached to an insulating housing having an array of plural contacts. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-305047 describes a SMT connector that is fixed to a circuit board by soldering a bracket, which is attached to the insulating housing by press fitting, to a pad on the surface of the circuit board.
When the surface connector of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-305047 is mounted on a surface of a circuit board, if the tine sections of the contacts protrude downward beyond the soldering section of the bracket, an adequate coplanarity is not achieved between the soldering section and the tine sections. Thus, the connector is inadequately fixed to the circuit board. On the other hand, if the soldering section of the bracket protrudes downward beyond the tine sections of the contacts, an adequate coplanarity is also not achieved between the soldering section and the tine sections. In this case, the connector is not adequately connected to the circuit board electrically, although it is adequately fixed to the circuit board.
If the bracket is attached to the housing by press fitting, it is difficult to adjust the level of the bottom of the soldering section and, thus, to achieve a good coplanarity between the soldering section and the tine sections after the attachment. In addition, press fitting of the bracket involves a special tool for press fitting, and thus, the attachment may be difficult. In addition, if press fitting is used, the part of the insulating housing relevant to press fitting has to be made thicker, and the thicker part hinders downsizing of the connector.